Perry: Santorum a 'good Catholic'

By ALEXANDER BURNS

01/17/2012 01:48 PM EST

Rick Perry had some good things and some sharply critical things to say about Rick Santorum in Florence, S.C., this afternoon. But what's drawing attention online is that in strongly evangelical South Carolina, Perry made multiple references to Santorum's Catholic faith -- not necessarily a big help to Santorum as he seeks to connect with deeply religious Protestants, whose affiliation Perry shares.

Here's what Perry said, via Reid Epstein:

"Rick Santorum is a good man. He is a good father. He is a good Catholic. But he hasn't always been a good conservative. And I make exceptions with his vote for Sonya Sotomayor as a for instance. That is a really liberal jurist that he helped put on track to become a Supreme Court jurist back when he voted to allow her to be on the Appellate Court. I mean, she is pro-abortion, would be my estimation of that. I mean, Obama is a very liberal president and she is reflective of his philosophy. So, I mean, there were 29 conservatives that voted against her. People like Strom Thurmond and Rick voted for her. So the idea that, you know, he is a pure social conservative, this flies right in the face of it ... On the fiscal side, Rick, he has a horrid record when it comes to earmarks and defending spending. The idea that you can vote for all those earmarks and call yourself a fiscal conservative is just ludicrous on its face. That is why we have a tea party today. ... So like I said, good man, good father and husband, good Catholic, but not always a good conservative."

Mentioning Santorum's Catholicism is, of course, not necessarily sinister. But it's still notable, as Perry is the only candidate left in the Republican field who can credibly play the game of evangelical identity politics (Santorum and Newt Gingrich are Catholics, Mitt Romney is a Mormon and Ron Paul has no particular strength among culturally-driven conservatives.)